Leave A Comment

Don’t believe anything in this post

The internet was teeming with momentous announcements on Sunday, but since it was April Fools Day, most are of dubious truth value. Here’s a sampling of my favorites; feel free to leave more suggestions in the comments.

John Scalzi announced a manga version of his fantasy trilogy Shadow War of the Night Dragon, to be illustrated by Madeleine Rosca (of Hollow Fields fame).

Several things about this announcement are suspicious, including the quote from Scalzi:

“I have to admit at first I was skeptical,” said author John Scalzi of the adaptation decision. “Could the medium of manga truly contain all the deep layers that are the Shadow War series? All the writing craft, all the trenchant allusion, all the subtle yet pointed social commentary that the series’ readers had come to expect — nay, demand? But then Tor backed up the money truck, and I suddenly realized that, yes, in fact, manga was the perfect medium for Shadow War. I could not be more richly proud of this edition.”

Ten points to Scalzi (or whoever) for commissioning three very nice covers from Rosca, though; click over and spend a little time looking at the details to fully appreciate the humor of all this. Plus an awful lot of people would totally buy these books.

And then there’s the mysteriously unsourced announcement that Alan Moore is giving the middle finger to DC with Legal Squad, a vicious parody of Justice League that features stupidly named superheroes and super villains. That’ll teach ’em!

In much better taste (ahem) was the announcement on Lew Stringer’s UK comics blog of Om-Nom-Nom,the first edible comic. The comic features a single character, Eddie Bull, and will come in a different flavor every month. “Kids are going to eat sweets anyway,” says publisher Robin Gregory, heading off parental criticism. “At least this way they’ll broaden their reading abilities at the same time. You can’t say that about a bag of pick n mix.” The first issue is packaged with a pair of licorice sunglasses with candy lenses that the reader can… oh, you can figure it out. And no, there isn’t a digital version… yet.

Long time readers of the blog know I’ve had a lawsuit running against the Beanie Baby people going on for fourteen years now, involving their unauthorized use of my trademarks and character likeness with their “Nibbler the Rabbit” character, first introduced in 1998.
…

We’ve been fighting back and forth about this for literally 14 years, and finally, finally FINALLY, I got the cheque that’s been due me for 11 of those years, by courier on Saturday.

I’m not allowed to disclose the amount, but it’s worth more than my house.

Again, it’s worth clicking through for a look at the art.

And finally, at Emerald City Comic Con, Robert Kirkman announced The Walking Dead For Kids, to be illustrated by G-Man artist Chris Giarrusso, a panel-by-panel recreation of the powerhouse zombie comic, complete with all the sex and violence of the original but done in a cute, kid-friendly style.